Effects of fumonisin B1 in pregnant rats

• Published in: Food and chemical toxicology Vol. 36; no. 5; pp. 397 - 408
• Main Authors: COLLINS, T. F. X, SHACKELFORD, M. E, RUGGLES, D. I, OLEJNIK, N, RORIE, J. I, SPRANDO, R. L, BLACK, T. N, LABORDE, J. B, HANSEN, D. K, EPPLEY, R. M, TRUCKSESS, M. W, HOWARD, P. C, BRYANT, M. A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier Science 01-05-1998; New York, NY
• Subjects: Abnormalities, Drug-Induced; Animals; Biological and medical sciences; Body Weight - drug effects; Brain - metabolism; Carboxylic Acids - toxicity; Drinking - drug effects; Eating - drug effects; Embryonic and Fetal Development - drug effects; Female; Fumonisins; Kidney - metabolism; Liver - metabolism; Male; Medical sciences; Organ Size - drug effects; Plant poisons toxicology; Pregnancy; Rats; Reproduction - drug effects; Sphingosine - analogs & derivatives; Sphingosine - metabolism; Teratogens - toxicity; Toxicology; Reproduction diseases; Rat; Toxicity; Rodentia; Mycotoxin; Oral administration; Pregnancy; Vertebrata; Fetal development; Mammalia; Animal; Fetus; Fumonisin
• ISSN: 0278-6915; 1873-6351
• DOI: 10.1016/S0278-6915(97)00170-1

Fumonisin B1 (FB1), the major mycotoxin from Fusarium moniliforme, has been implicated as a causative agent in several animal and human diseases. Despite animal toxicity studies and human epidemiological studies of FB1, knowledge of its reproductive effects is scarce. In this study, one of a series of proposed studies that will allow extrapolation to humans, pregnant rats were given oral doses of 0, 1.875, 3.75, 7.5 or 15 mg FB1/kg on gestation days 3 16. Caesarean sections were performed on day 17 or 20, and maternal condition, implantation efficiency, foetal viability and foetal development were measured. Dose-related decreases in overall feed consumption and body weight gain were seen, but only the feed consumption decrease at 15 mg/kg, and the decreased body weight gain at 15 mg/kg on days 0-17 were statistically significant. Foetal body weights at day 17 were similar in control and treated groups; but in day-20 foetuses, female weight and crown-rump length were significantly decreased at 15 mg/kg. FB1 was not teratogenic at the doses tested, and no dose-related effects were seen in either skeletal or soft-tissue development. In day-17 animals, maternal and foetal brain, liver and kidney tissues, and maternal serum were preserved to study the levels of sphinganine (Sa), sphingosine (So), and the Sa/So ratios. Dose-related increases were seen in Sa/So ratios in maternal livers, kidneys and serum. Sa/So ratios of maternal brains were not affected, nor were those of foetal kidneys, livers or brains.